The Team

The Rt Hon Lord Hague of Richmond, William Hague

The Rt Hon Lord Hague of Richmond, William Hague, served for 26 years in the British House of Commons until he stood down in 2015. In that time, he served in many senior roles, including Leader of the House of Commons, but is best known as the Leader of the Conservative party, 1997-2001, and First Secretary of State and Foreign Secretary, 2010-2014. He now pursues a wide range of business and charitable activities. He is also a well-known writer, as a weekly columnist of the Times and a best-selling author of historical biographies.

Alice Webb

Alice Webb is Chief Executive Officer and Co-President of Universal Music Group’s Mercury Studios. Mercury Studios is a multi-faceted content studio developing, producing, distributing and investing in premium original programming – with music at its heart - across a range of media including film, television, podcasting, publishing and live-streamed performance. Alice joined Mercury Studios in May 2020 from the BBC where she spent 15 years working across a number of departments. Between 2011 and 2019, Alice was Chief Operating Officer and then Director of BBC North. She was instrumental in the biggest BBC move outside of London when key BBC departments including BBC Sport, BBC Children's, Radio 5 live and BBC Education moved to Salford. Around 35,000 hours of output a year across TV, radio and the red button are now made in the north, with 3,000 staff based at MediaCityUK. As Director of BBC Children’s & Education between 2015 and 2020 Alice went on to lead all the BBC’s output and activity for Under 16’s – including CBeebies and CBBC, the most watched and loved children’s channels in the UK. Alice led the BBC’s Education department too – with a particular focus on early years development. More recently, Alice led the launch of the BBC’s hugely successful Bitesize Daily which is supporting millions of children across the country during the coronavirus pandemic. Alice is also a Trustee of The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales. Alice lives in the north-west with her family.

Claire Wills

Claire Wills is a senior partner at international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and managing partner of its London office. She joined Freshfields in 1992, becoming a partner in May 2001. Claire is also a member of the Arnold Foundation Board, established by Rugby School in 2003.

Jean-Christophe Gray

Jean-Christophe Gray CBE is Private Secretary to His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales. He previously worked at HM Treasury since 2002 in a variety of roles, including: Director, Public Services (2016-2020); Press Secretary to two Chancellors of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling and George Osborne (2009-11); and Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown (2004-06). He was the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman in No10 Downing Street 2012-2015, and has most recently (2020-2021) been seconded to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG). Prior to joining the Civil Service, he worked for Procter & Gamble and was briefly a parliamentary assistant to then MP for Wimbledon. He read history at the University of Oxford, and has a MSc in European Politics & Policy from the London School of Economics.

Lady Pinsent

Demetra Pinsent is the CEO of British beauty brand Charlotte Tilbury, a Non-Executive Director of Belmond Ltd and a Trustee of The Royal Foundation. Prior to this, she was a Partner at McKinsey & Company where she co-led the European Luxury Goods Practice and advised leading global retailers and consumer businesses. She has also served as an Advisory Board Member for Walpole, the British luxury goods association and Aston Martin.

Sir Ron Kalifa

Ron Kalifa is Chairman of Network International. He is a Non-Executive Director of the Court of Directors to the Bank of England, the England & Wales Cricket Board and a member of the Council of Imperial College, London. Ron was invited to lead an independent Fintech Strategic Review for the UK at the request of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Report was published in February 2021. Additionally, Ron is a member of the Build Back Better Business Council which is co-chaired by the Prime Minister and the Chancellor and a member of the Government’s Digital Economy Council. Ron is also an Operating Partner for Advent International. Previously, Ron led Worldpay for over 10 years as CEO including its divestment into private equity ownership in 2010. He served as Vice Chairman thereafter, remaining as an Executive director until February 2020.

Simon Patterson

Simon Patterson is a Managing Director of Silver Lake, the global leader in technology investing. He is currently a board member of Dell Technologies, Cegid and FlixBus, and previously served on the boards of Intelsat, Skype, MultiPlan and Gerson Lehrman Group. He is also a Trustee of the Natural History Museum in London and a Non-Executive Director of Tesco plc.

Zeinab Badawi

Zeinab Badawi was born in Sudan – her family moved to London when she was two years old. She studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University and for an MA in history (awarded with a distinction) at SOAS, London University. Zeinab has worked extensively in the British media for four decades and is now best known for her work in the BBC’s international division at BBC World News TV and BBC World Service Radio on programmes such as 'Hard Talk', and 'Global Questions’ as well as a major 20-part tv series on the history of Africa which she produced and presented through her own production company for BBC World News.  She also produces and presents films on opera. Zeinab is President of SOAS London University, a member of the advisory board of the think tank Afro-Barometer, and of MINDS: the Mandela Institute for Development Studies; a trustee of Historic Royal Palaces, BBC Media Action (the charitable arm of the BBC), the Royal Opera House, the Hampstead Theatre in London and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation. She is also a council member of the Arts Humanities and Research Council of UKRI; Zeinab was Chair of the Royal African Society (Patron: HRH the Duke of Cambridge); she has served on the board of the British Council, the National Portrait Gallery, the Institute of Historical Research, the Overseas Development Institute, and has been Chair of Article 19. Zeinab has received many awards including honorary doctorates from SOAS, the University of the Arts London, and York University and received the President’s Medal of the British Academy for her services to broadcasting and education and the United Nations Association-UK Sir Brian Urquhart award for distinguished service to the UN. She is also an honorary fellow of St Hilda’s, College Oxford University. Zeinab has four children.  

Amy Pickerill

Amy joined The Foundation in 2019, to establish The Earthshot Prize. In this role, Amy built and led The Earthshot Prize team, supported the development of the landmark TV and Radio series and Book, and designed and delivered the inaugural London 2021 awards. Amy joined the Foundation from Kensington Palace where she spent a number of years, initially as Senior Communications Officer supporting The Prince and Princess of Wales, and Prince Harry before establishing The Duchess of Sussex’s Private Office. Prior to this Amy spent just under 5 years working in The Royal Bank of Scotland, running the bank’s central media campaigns team, a role which included a secondment of 9 months to Ogilvy & Mather’s international Head Quarters in New York.  Amy started her career in HM Treasury, during the global financial crisis, where she worked as a ministerial spokesperson under both the Labour and then, Coalition Government. Her experience in government included responsibility for leading media operations for two summits of G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in 2009.

Damian Wilson

Damian joined The Royal Foundation as Director of Partnerships in November 2021.  Prior to this he spent over two decades in partnership development and campaigns, working with philanthropy and the private sector on some of the big issues of our time – from climate change and disease elimination to gender empowerment and youth extremism.  This has included roles at the Nike Foundation, BBC Media Action, Girl Effect, Malaria No More and Forster Communications on work ranging from changing public narratives and social norms, to driving innovation and investment. Damian studied History of Art at the University of East Anglia specialising in contemporary visual culture.  He has a family with two young boys to keep him busy outside work.  

Kully Kaur-Ballagan

Kully joined The Royal Foundation as Director of Research in September 2021. She has responsibility for ensuring the work of The Royal Foundation is evidence-led and grounded in research. Kully has over two decades of experience in designing and delivering impactful social research. Prior to joining The Royal Foundation, Kully was a Senior Director at Ipsos MORI where she led the crime, cohesion and security team and developed and managed complex social research and evaluation programmes on behalf of range of government clients, think tanks, NGOs and academic institutions.  Kully also led Ipsos MORI’s Diversity and Inclusion research programme. Kully is a graduate of the University of Leeds, where she studied Economics and Politics with North American Studies.

Pim Gregory

Prior to joining The Royal Foundation, Pim worked eleven years in the Diplomatic Service, including postings to Afghanistan and Spain (as a Pashto and Spanish speaker, respectively). Prior to the Diplomatic Service, Pim worked for the Department for International Development, where he focused principally on the World Bank and climate change issues as well as undertaking a posting to Iraq as Deputy Programme Manager. He read Applied Psychology at undergraduate level, including a year working as an Assistant Psychologist in a drug and alcohol rehabilitation centre. Following this, he undertook an MSc in Public Policy, with a thesis on climate change and the international human rights law framework. Outside of work, Pim maintains an interest in music, playing the piano and guitar. He has a three-year-old son, Wilbur.